I've started a photo sharing group for ultralight touring on Flickr and would love it if more from here joined up and shared some photos:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/ultralightbiking/

I'd also encourage you to share your photos here as well.

I'll start.

This was my winter/early spring UL road specific touring setup as of last Sunday / Monday:

Weighed in at 32lbs base, 36lbs fully loaded with food and water.

I suspect I'll have it down to 30 by summer.

And this is my UL backroad / off road snow touring setup complete with studded tires:

Weighs in at about 45lbs.

I run completely self contained using a multi-stove approach lately. ISO+wood (summer) or alcohol+wood (summer) or whitegas+wood (winter).

I'm a bit of an opportunist on food carrying core/ staple foods like ramen, lipton noodle, coffee, cocoa, tuna, Udon, grits and other such foods but will raid gas stations grocery stores and even the occasional restraunt or cafe as time and convience allows.

Lately I've been running with a bivy, tarp and a zero degree bag. Great late fall, winter and early spring setup. In the summer I tend to use a tent more due bugs. Eventually I suspect I'll get into hammocking.

I'd love to see more people out there just taking off on multi-day rides out their back door as convience allows. Going UL, covering lots of easy miles, crashing / stealth camping where they may and just generally riding over multiple days the way they would on any saturday or sunday afternoon.

This is back in the fall of 2007. Dave Harris took this, of me topping out the big climb going north from Glen Canyon City up onto the Kaiparowits Plateau. We ate dinner in Escalante that night, and crashed in the scrub just outside town after riding for 14 hours. After we fell asleep some local rednecks found us, shot high powered rifles over our heads, and buzzed us with ATVs. Lesson learned: don't camp in sight of the road!

The trip was a good one regardless. It's much more fun (for me) to explore areas like that on a bike than a truck in 4 low.

I had a bivy strapped to my bars, a pad and food strapped under the seat, and a light down bag in my pack. My setup has gotten better, but that was a perfectly functional rig.

Hi Greg,Yes, that's the Iron Horse Trail. That's back from 2005 when we had that dry winter and the Iron Horse trail was pretty snow free.

The latest I heard was that the tunnel under Snoqualmie pass is closed indefinitely, until repairs are made. I have not been able to find any kind of schedule. I suppose it may eventually open up again, by if it does I suspect it will be many years. Really a shame.

@ D W (Arapiles) said: "What do you do for water - do you use a hydration pack?"

While the Cross Check does have water bottle mounts on the forks I haven't yet found a place to put water bottles on the Salsa as the front fork is of a blade type with no possible way to mount bottles.

Thus far I've had plenty of room to put a water bottle in the frame bag. However over the summer I think I'll be needing more then will fit in the frame bag.

I am thinking of trying wb mounts on the handlebar or possibly the rear chainstays.

The best trick I've found thus far is to use plastic reflector mounts which come in a variety of sizes to place water bottles virtually anywhere on the frame. These appear to be more then durable enough for the job.

I also have an ultra simple / ultralightweight backpack made of nylon. It's capable of carrying 10-15 lbs comfortably, though I prefer to have nothing on my back.

I like your tarp setup. Have been debating trying a wing tarp for it's extremely simple setup, but have also been looking at that type. Am I right in calling it a hooch? I've heard it is derived from swedish and/or australian military is this correct?

I'm curious as to what kind of lines you use and what kind of nots and binders. I'm not completely satisfied with my mastery of lines, knots, and other tarp craft.

== of pots and alcohol stoves ==

BTW, I like the MSR titan kettle + supercat setup. I have done some testing with it. Despite all the fanciness of the side jetted pot pressurized double walled alcohol stoves the supercat is remarkably efficient and often quite a bit hotter. Not to mention its extreme simplicity and lightness.

Have been experimenting with pots btw. Have been experimenting with the $6 Kmart grease pot. Great pot but I think the MSR titan is my ideal solo winter touring pot.

For summer though I think I'm going to go a little narrower for now. It does decrease efficiency a little, but this can be more then compensated for by a nice caldera cone which captures heat along the sides of the pot as well.

== of kickbikes ==

I see some big advantages of the kickbike btw. For one thing it's extremely simple and efficient. Not quite as effcient as a bike drivetrain, but it's simplicity and comfortable step on off stance are appealing. I imagine it can be considerably lighter then a traditional bike.

What's more I believe one could take it places where a traaditional bike couldn't go? How is it walking with it?

Most of the stuff was what I would have taken on a typical backpacking trip, with an approximate baseweight of 11-12 lbs.

The panniers where Ortlieb small front panniers that I used at the back, and weighed about 3 lbs for the pair. This added a couple of pounds vs using a 16 oz ultralight frameless pack, taking the weight up in the 14 lb range.

"I'm curious as to how you got into it and what you see the advantages are.Do you still travel this way?"

My friend have kickbike. I try it and... now i have my own. It is simple. No broken parts. Only tires. Now i have about 2000 km (1242 miles) with kickbike and only repair is tires, everything else is ok. When i use bicycle my thigh (is this right word?) and ass is killing me. With kickbike i use legs, back and arms to move. So all of my body get exercise.

And yes, i travel this way. Now here in Finland is winter so i need to wait spring.